(A MEMORY OF CHRISTIANA C-) Where Blackmoor was, the road that led To Bath, she could not show, Nor point the sky that overspread Towns ten miles off or so. But that Calcutta stood this way, Cape Horn there figured fell, That here was Boston, here Bombay, She could declare full well. Less known to […]

“Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! “But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place. “I shot him dead because – Because he was […]

(Circa 1790) I “We moved with pensive paces, I and he, And bent our faded faces Wistfully, For something troubled him, and troubled me. “The lanthorn feebly lightened Our grey hall, Where ancient brands had brightened Hearth and wall, And shapes long vanished whither vanish all. “‘O why, Love, nightly, daily,’ I had said, ‘Dost […]

(“It being deposed that vij women who were mayds before he knew them have been brought upon the towne [rates?] by the fornicacions of one Ralph Blossom, Mr Major inquired why he should not contribute xiv pence weekly toward their mayntenance. But it being shewn that the sayd R. B. was dying of a purple […]

Down comes the winter rain – Spoils my hat and bow – Runs into the poll of me; But mother won’t know. We’ve been out and caught a cold, Knee-deep in snow; Such a lucky thing it is That mother won’t know! Rosy lost herself last night – Couldn’t tell where to go. Yes–it rather […]

“And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.”–Isaiah xxxiii. 6. I looked and thought, “All is too gray and cold To wake my place-enthusiasms of old!” Till a voice passed: “Behind that granite mien Lurks the imposing beauty of a Queen.” I looked anew; and saw the radiant form Of Her who […]

A baby watched a ford, whereto A wagtail came for drinking; A blaring bull went wading through, The wagtail showed no shrinking. A stallion splashed his way across, The birdie nearly sinking; He gave his plumes a twitch and toss, And held his own unblinking. Next saw the baby round the spot A mongrel slowly […]

Forty years back, when much had place That since has perished out of mind, I heard that voice and saw that face. He spoke as one afoot will wind A morning horn ere men awake; His note was trenchant, turning kind. He was of those whose wit can shake And riddle to the very core […]

Coomb-Firtrees say that Life is a moan, And Clyffe-hill Clump says “Yea!” But Yell’ham says a thing of its own: It’s not “Gray, gray Is Life alway!” That Yell’ham says, Nor that Life is for ends unknown. It says that Life would signify A thwarted purposing: That we come to live, and are called to […]

A senseless school, where we must give Our lives that we may learn to live! A dolt is he who memorizes Lessons that leave no time for prizes. 16 W. P. V., 1866.

“I have finished another year,” said God, “In grey, green, white, and brown; I have strewn the leaf upon the sod, Sealed up the worm within the clod, And let the last sun down.” “And what’s the good of it?” I said. “What reasons made you call From formless void this earth we tread, When […]

Whose child is this they bring Into the aisle? – At so superb a thing The congregation smile And turn their heads awhile. Its eyes are blue and bright, Its cheeks like rose; Its simple robes unite Whitest of calicoes With lawn, and satin bows. A pride in the human race At this paragon Of […]

I It is dark in the sky, And silence is where Our laughs rang high; And recall do I That One is out there. II The dawn is not nigh, And the trees are bare, And the waterways sigh That a year has drawn by, And Two are out there. III The wind drops to […]

(Young Lover’s Reverie) I went and stood outside myself, Spelled the dark sky And ship-lights nigh, And grumbling winds that passed thereby. Then next inside myself I looked, And there, above All, shone my Love, That nothing matched the image of. Beyond myself again I ranged; And saw the free Life by the sea, And […]

AN INCIDENT OF 1883 “Sir, will you let me give you a ride? Nox Venit, and the heath is wide.” – My phaeton-lantern shone on one Young, fair, even fresh, But burdened with flesh: A leathern satchel at his side, His breathings short, his coat undone. ‘Twas as if his corpulent figure slopped With the […]

“Who’s in the next room?–who? I seemed to see Somebody in the dawning passing through, Unknown to me.” “Nay: you saw nought. He passed invisibly.” “Who’s in the next room?–who? I seem to hear Somebody muttering firm in a language new That chills the ear.” “No: you catch not his tongue who has entered there.” […]

At a bygone Western country fair I saw a giant led by a dwarf With a red string like a long thin scarf; How much he was the stronger there The giant seemed unaware. And then I saw that the giant was blind, And the dwarf a shrewd-eyed little thing; The giant, mild, timid, obeyed […]

“Why do you weep there, O sweet lady, Why do you weep before that brass? – (I’m a mere student sketching the mediaeval) Is some late death lined there, alas? – Your father’s? . . . Well, all pay the debt that paid he!” “Young man, O must I tell!–My husband’s! And under His name […]

When I looked up at my love-birds That Sunday afternoon, There was in their tiny tune A dying fetch like broken words, When I looked up at my love-birds That Sunday afternoon. When he, too, scanned the love-birds On entering there that day, ‘Twas as if he had nought to say Of his long journey […]

I went by footpath and by stile Beyond where bustle ends, Strayed here a mile and there a mile And called upon some friends. On certain ones I had not seen For years past did I call, And then on others who had been The oldest friends of all. It was the time of midsummer […]